William e



(No Model.) Y

W E. WHITEHE-AD.

TOP FLAT 0F OARDING MACHINES No. 258,620. Patented May 30, 1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT @nrrcm WILLIAM E. WHITEHEAD, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE WHITEHEAD & ATHER-TON MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

TOP-FLAT OF CARDlNG-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Iietters Patent No. 258,620, dated May 30, 1882.

Application filed March 22, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. WHITE- HEAD, of Lowell, Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Top- Flats of Garding-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to the top-flats of carding-machines. These flats have, so far as 1 am informed, hitherto been made of wood.

10 Wooden flats are very liable to warp and get out of shape, no matter how dry or well scasoned the wood may be. Varying atmospheric conditions and changes in the temperature of the room where the machine may be used will i 5 sooner or later affect the wood and cause a distortion of the flat. When it is considered that a top-flat must be set so accurately and nicely with respect to the carding-cylinder that the difference of the thickness of a sheet of paper in the adjustment makes a success or failure of the carding, it will be perceived that the slightest warping, springing, or distortion of the flat must be disastrous to good carding.

A further objection to the wooden top-flat is 25 that, owing to the shrinking, or, rather, what may be termed the contraction and expansion, of the wood under varying atmospheric conditions, the tacks usually employed to fasten the card-clothing to the flat are apt to work 0 loose, and thus permit the disarrangement of the clothing.

It is my object to remove these objections; and this object I find can be realized by making the top-fiat of fibrous pulp-such, for instance, as that from which pasteboard or 3 5 leather-board is made-compressed and molded into the required shape. Such a flat, provided with the usual card-clothing, is represented in the accompanying drawing in perspective. 40

In the drawing, a represents the flat; b, the card-clothing, and c the tacks which secure the latter to the flat. It can be made easily and inexpensively. It possesses strength and durability, and is entirely free from the tend- 5 ency to warp and shrink which is so detrimental to the usefulness of the wooden flat. When molded and dried it is solid and holds firmly and tightly the tacks by which the cardclothing is fastened to it.

What I claim as of my invention is- A molded fibrous pulp top-fiat for cardingmachines, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 55 my hand this 2d day of March, 1882.

WILLIAM E. WHITEHEAD.

Witnesses:

A. '1. ATHERTON, E. E. RIPLEY. 

